It is generally accepted in physics and chemistry that the universe is made up of a number of stable and less stable elements ranging in progressive units of atomic weights of 1 (hydrogen) through 105 (hahnium). The periodic law states that the properties of the chemical elements and their compounds are a periodic function of their atomic number. The periodic table is a table of the elements written in sequence in the order of atomic number or atomic weight and arranged in horizontal rows (periods) and vertical columns (groups) to illustrate the occurrence of similarities in the properties of the elements as a periodic function of the sequence. Present versions of the table used in texts have remained essentially unchanged for the past fifty years, except for the addition of new elements.
The present periodic table has come to be universally accepted in its current form, although the format is unsatisfactory for a number of reasons. The chief shortcomings of the accepted version of the table are lack of a regular methematical plan throughout and ambiguity in locating the lanthanide and actinide series of elements and showing their true relationships to the other elements.
By making four changes in the present table, a new periodic table is created that eliminates these shortcomings. This improved table serves as the basis for two three-dimensional projections of the new table, each of which displays the properties of matter in a more coherent manner than before. The new table, and its projections, has as its foundation the contemporary concept of the electronic structure of atoms and contains within its form the rules of quantum physics. Yet this new table has been achieved for the most part without sacrificing the empirical relationships upon which the concept of the periodic law is based.
In addition, one of the three-dimensional models can be used to determine the four quantum numbers, n, l, m.sub.l and m.sub.s.